Outbreak
by AliasCWN
Summary: Arabs are dying and the Americans are getting the blame.
1. Chapter 1

**Outbreak**

By:AliasCWN

Chapter 1

Sam Troy walked into the bar and was immediately assailed by the smells of stale beer and sweat. Even though the interior of the bar was cool, the men coming in from outside were not. Letting his eyes adjust to the dim interior after the bright sun outside, he moved to stand by the wall where he would be out of the way of others more eager to enjoy the distractions that the bar had to offer.

Troy wasn't there for the beer, or to enjoy the company of any of the young ladies who were scattered around the smoky interior. Upon seeing him standing alone, one of those women made a beeline for him. His compact body and good looks ensured that he never had any trouble attracting a willing lady to keep him company, but he didn't have time for that now. Seeing her coming, he quickly shook his head and moved away from the wall. She followed him with her eyes as he slowly moved across the room.

Searching as he went, Troy checked all of the men standing at the bar. He didn't really expect to find the men he was seeking standing or drinking alone; they usually had a table near the back and several women hanging on their arms. This time was no exception; he spotted the two young privates sitting in a booth near the back wall. He was surprised and pleased to note that they appeared to be sober despite their current location. He made his way through the crowd, smiling at their expected reaction to the news that he was here to deliver.

"Sarge." Tully Pettigrew looked up and saw him approaching. His quiet drawl reached Tully despite the noise around them.

Mark Hitchcock heard it too and looked up in surprise. "Sarge, what brings you here?" His bright smile lit up his face. "Do you want to join us?"

Troy shook his head as he answered. "Not this time."

The blond frowned as he studied the sergeant's expression. "What's wrong Sarge?"

"We have an assignment."

"But Captain Boggs gave us seventy-two hours." Hitch protested.

"And headquarters sent us an assignment." Troy countered.

Hitch frowned but he didn't argue any further. Pulling free from the girl sitting next to him gripping his arm, he rose to leave. The girl reached for him again, clinging with both hands on his arm. "Sorry sweetheart, duty calls." He pried her fingers loose gently and pulled away.

Tully stood and tossed a few bills on the table. "Keep the party going."

The girls grabbed the money and eyed Troy as if it were his fault that the night had ended early. They didn't seem to care that it was the middle of the day and there would be a lot more soldiers coming in before the night was over.

"Where are we headed Sarge?" Tully asked as he chewed on his ever present matchstick.

"I'll tell you on the way." He answered as he glanced around the room in silent explanation. "First we have to find Moffitt."

"Doc went to visit some old Arab buddy." Tully reminded him. "You gave him permission, remember?"

"Yeah Tully, I remember, but we need him on this assignment and he isn't back yet. Did he tell you just where he was headed?"

"No." Tully shook his head. "He just said he was going to visit an old friend, somebody named Mahiteem."

"Yeah, that's all he told me too. In the future he's going to have to let us know exactly where he is. Headquarters isn't going to be happy about the delay. We need to find him fast."

"He can't be too far Sarge." Hitchcock broke in as they left the bar. "He said something about riding out on horseback."

"On horseback?"

Hitchcock nodded.

"That means he didn't sign out a jeep or tell the motor pool where he was going either." Troy tried to remember if Moffitt had left any other clues. "Tully," he paused to ask a question. "Weren't there some Arabs camped at that small oasis just east of here?"

"There were, but that was four days ago. They probably moved by now. Doc said that it looked like a temporary camp."

"And you're both sure that he didn't say anything else?"

Two heads nodded as one.

"Are we going to tell Captain Boggs that we don't know where he is?" Tully couldn't keep the concern out of his voice. Moffitt could be in a lot of trouble if they didn't find him quick.

"Not yet." Troy decided. "We'll ask around first and see if any of the English speaking Arabs know this Mahiteem guy. Maybe one of them can point us in the right direction."

Two hours later Troy was pacing in front of the jeeps. "Where is he?" They had asked everyone they thought might have any clue as to the British sergeant's whereabouts. "He knows better than to take off for this long without letting someone know where he was going." The privates remained silent; any explanation they could suggest would only set Troy off again.

"Sergeant Troy?"

Troy turned as a soldier that he didn't know called his name. "That's me. What is it?"

The soldier held out a piece of paper. "Some Arab asked me to give this to you; he said that it might be important."

"Thanks."

The soldier nodded and went on his way, leaving Troy holding the paper.

"What is it?" Hitch asked impatiently.

Troy unfolded the note, read it, and then read it again.

"It's about Moffitt, isn't it?" Hitchcock demanded. The expression on Troy's face scared him.

Finally Troy nodded, folding the note, he explained. "It's from the Arab that loaned Moffitt the horse." He paused to look into the concerned faces of the two privates. "The horse came back alone all lathered. All of Moffitt's gear was still tied to the saddle."

"His canteen too?" Tully asked. His face paled when Troy nodded.

"Any blood on the horse or the saddle?" Hitch asked.

"It doesn't say."

"He would have mentioned it if he found any, wouldn't he?" Hitch asked hopefully.

"Maybe we should go and ask him."

Again two heads nodded as one. Troy noticed the worry on both faces and hoped that he was doing a better job of hiding his concern.

"We'll take the jeeps. If he gives us anything to go on, we'll be able to leave right from there." Both privates were in their seats before Troy could get around the jeep. Their next stop was at the stables where Moffitt had borrowed the horse. Talek had been expecting them and rushed out to meet them as soon as they arrived.

"The horse is here my friends. See, he has all of Sergeant Moffitt's gear. I have asked around, the horse came from the northeast. He is much lathered; he either came from a great distance or a short distance very fast. He could never have kept such a fast pace for any time in this heat."

"So which is it; he ran or he came a long way?" Troy demanded as he examined the horse.

"I cannot say." The old man shrugged. "Only the horse knows."

Troy sighed, knowing that there was no more to be gained by questioning the old Arab. "Thanks for letting us know."

"You are going to look for him, no?"

"We are going to look for him, yes." Troy corrected.

"Then you may need his gear and his supplies." The old man suggested. He quickly stripped the items from the horse and handed Moffitt's gear to Troy. Hitch and Tully stood off to the side as he pulled the saddle and blanket.

"The reins are broken." Tully noted. "Maybe Doc had him tied but he broke away."

"And maybe he stepped on the reins and broke them on his way back here." Troy added, putting a damper on Tully's hope.

"What's that smell?" Talek had handed the saddle and blanket to Hitch to hold while he examined the reins. Now the private sniffed the blanket suspiciously.

"What smell?"

"It smells like something dead." Hitch decided after sniffing it again. "It's faint, but I definitely smell it."

Tully leaned over to smell the blanket. His eyes met Troy's as he nodded in agreement.

"Let's roll." Troy ordered curtly. "We'll head northeast and see if we can pick up the horses tracks."


	2. Chapter 2

**Outbreak**

By:AliasCWN

Chapter 2

The Arab camp was set up in the oasis, abandoned by all appearances. Jack Moffitt sat on his horse at a distance and watched as the breeze moved the flaps on the tents. Noon on the desert was usually a time for natives to rest in their tents, but this stillness was more than that. The camp felt deserted and empty. Moffitt's unease grew as the horse beneath him stomped and fidgeted. The sergeant tightened his hold on the reins unconsciously. His mount snorted and tossed his head at the increased pressure on the bit. Making soothing sounds, Moffitt allowed a little more rein to slide through his fingers. The horse stopped stomping and pulling on the bit but he still seemed restless. The sergeant on his back sat nearly as still as the camp, his eyes taking in every detail.

The horses or camels that would have been needed by the nomadic inhabitants to move their camp were missing. No children played outside, no dogs lounged in the shade of the tents.

The British sergeant searched the sand around the oasis for tracks, human or otherwise; anything to indicate that there was some type of activity around the camp. The night winds would have erased the tracks from the previous day but there should have been some still visible from earlier in the day. The few tracks around the waterhole looked old and sunbaked. Knowing that the only way to find out what had happened was to go in, Moffitt kneed the horse forward.

The closer they got, the more nervous the horse became. His prancing and sidestepping forced Moffitt to pay more attention to him than to the state of the camp. He dropped one hand down to rest on the animal's neck, talking in a slow, quiet voice. The neck muscles bunched under his fingers, bulging as the horse's unease grew. Moffitt could feel it tensing, preparing to turn and flee. It threw its head repeatedly, its nostrils flaring to catch the scent on the breeze. He tightened his grip on the reins, controlling its fear by projecting a calm he didn't really feel.

As they neared the first tent he began to understand why the animal was acting out. The smell of sickness and death hung heavy in the air and clung to the cloth of the tents that waved lazily in the breeze.

"Mahiteem!" The sergeant's voice was lost in the stillness of the camp. "Mahiteem!"

There was no answer, not from Mahiteem or anyone else. His dread skyrocketed, sending a sense of urgency through him. He fought the urge to jump down and run through the camp calling his old friend's name. Commonsense prevailed; telling him that there was no rush, anyone still here was not going anywhere.

Stepping out of the saddle, he tied the horse to a tent stake, making sure that the knot was secure. His hose pranced around the stake, too restless to stand still. Moffitt briefly considered keeping a hold on the reins to keep the animal close, but he soon dismissed the idea. He needed to check the interiors of the tents and he didn't want the horse disturbing the signs of what had occurred.

Pushing the flap aside, he entered the first tent. The interior was dimmer than outside and he paused a moment to allow his eyes to adjust. A bedroll lay stretched out along one wall, looking crumpled as if the occupant had just rolled out of it. Various cups and eating utensils were scattered beside the bedroll; some of them still had remnants of food or drink in them. The heat had evaporated the liquid but the residue was still present. Bits of clothing lay tossed around the tent as if someone had packed in a hurry.

The smell of death was strong in the tent. Moffitt didn't think it had been a violent death, it smelled more of sickness and herbs. He picked up one of the cups and held it to his nose. There was a combination of smells that he could identify from the strong mixture. He knew what all of them were used to cure, but he couldn't think of one single malady that would require all of them together. It was as if someone was so desperate that they had resorted to using all of them at once. The thought disturbed him more than he wanted to admit. What was happening that would drive anyone to go to such lengths? Seeing nothing more of interest, he left the tent and moved on to the next one.

This one too had the appearance of being hastily deserted. A pile of men's clothing was neatly stacked along one wall but the rest of the tent was empty of personal items. Pillows were tossed in one spot, piled atop some soiled blankets. Again, the items used to care for the sick were left behind. Cups, bowls, and utensils had been abandoned by the sleeping pad, not even washed after their last use.

Knowing what he was going to find, Moffitt still entered the third tent. His greatest dread now was finding a body in one of the beds. Since there were no vultures, someone must have survived to bury the bodies. He didn't find anyone in the third tent, or the fourth, or the final one. The signs were the same in each instance, someone was sick, everyone else left in a hurry, taking very little with them.

The horse outside was starting to whinny now, pulling on the reins, fighting the restraints. Moffitt ducked through the door and rushed toward the animal, hoping to calm it. His approach only frightened it more, its eyes rolling, exposing the whites around the edges. Realizing that he now carried the scent of death on his clothing, he tried to circle downwind. The horse spun as he circled, its nostrils flaring wide in fear. Moffitt took a slow step toward the mount, reaching for the reins.

The horse jerked back, retreating as far as the reins would allow. Moffitt spoke softly, trying to stay calm as his only means of returning to the base panicked in front of him. Chancing another step, he reached out slowly. The horse paused, reaching out its nose as if seeking another friendly body. It inhaled, sniffing his outstretched hand, and then it jerked violently away from him. This time there was no extra rein to absorb the backward motion. The leather drew taut with a snap as the eight hundred pound animal yanked on it. One rein broke with a pop, snapping back and hitting the terrified animal in the face. With a mighty pull the gelding broke the second rein before Moffitt could get a grip on the noseband. He watched in dismay as the frightened animal raced away, taking all of his supplies with it, including his canteens.


	3. Chapter 3

**Outbreak**

By:AliasCWN

Chapter 3

Hitch's jeep led the way, weaving side to side, with Troy keeping his eyes on the sand, looking for horse tracks. Tully wove back and forth to one side, doubling the chances of finding what they sought.

"Tully." Troy called after a half hour of fruitless searching. "Go over that way about a mile. We'll go this way the same distance. One of us ought to find the tracks. The horse probably stayed on the flats this close to the town."

"Right Sarge. Do you want me to fire a shot if I find them?"

Troy considered it as he studied the flats. "No." He finally replied. "We don't know what Moffitt might have run into. The land is flat enough, use a mirror."

"Right." Tully wheeled his jeep to the right and headed straight out across the desert floor.

Troy watched him go before signaling Hitch to turn to the left. They stopped weaving now, knowing that if the tracks were out there, this course would take them across them. The sand mesmerized Troy as he stared at the sand flashing past the jeep at a rapid clip. He was about to order Hitch to turn back when he glanced behind him again. The brief flash of a mirror caught his eye.

"Hitch, go back!"

The jeep wheeled around so fast that Troy had to grab onto the dash to keep from being thrown into his driver. He was about to protest until he realized that he hadn't been in any danger of falling out. Hitch had turned so he fell into the jeep, not out, and he had done it with no wasted motion. They were all on the same page, they had to find Moffitt, and find him fast.

Tully was waiting when the second jeep returned. He pointed to the horse tracks near the wheel of his jeep. The breeze was starting to fill them in, erasing the man made flaws in the smooth desert floor. Troy nodded and told Hitch to follow them with Tully ranging off to the side. The further they got from the base the more danger they faced from bandits or stray German patrols. If Moffitt had fallen prey to either one, they would be of no use if they fell victims to the same fate.

Hitch followed the tracks, letting Troy watch for danger. The further they went, the fainter the tracks. The wind had almost completely covered them in some places.

"Hey Sarge." Tully pulled up next to Troy and called across the space between them.

"What?"

"That oasis you asked about earlier."

"What about it?"

"It's about ten miles straight ahead. If the horse stayed on a straight line for home, he might have come from there."

Troy looked at the rapidly fading tracks and made a decision. "You go on ahead and check it out. Don't go in, just look it over. Hitch and I will keep following the tracks in case they change direction. If we lose them we'll head directly for the oasis."

"Right Sarge."

"And Tully," Troy added "be careful."

Tully nodded solemnly and headed for the oasis.

Hitch popped a bubble, drawing Troy's attention back to him. "What?"

"Nothing Sarge, I was just thinking."

"Nothing good ever came of that but go ahead and say it anyway." The sergeant growled to hide his own worry.

"There's two of us and Tully's alone, maybe we should have let him follow the tracks while we went ahead to check out the oasis."

"Now you mention it." Troy growled, but he couldn't shake the feeling that maybe the kid had it right. Shaking his head, he ordered Hitch to get moving.

They followed the tracks for several more miles, losing them for a while and then picking them up again. The wind was erasing them faster than they could follow them now. Troy checked his compass and realized that they were still on the same track for the oasis. He checked his watch; Tully should be at the waterhole by now. They still had a few hours of daylight left; maybe they could still find Moffitt and at least get a start on their new assignment. All they had to do was find Moffitt in one piece. Turning to Hitch, he urged him to drive a little faster. He had the strangest feeling that something was about to happen and that they needed to be there.

"Hey Sarge!"

Troy looked over at this driver, expecting him to say that they were still headed for the oasis. "Yeah?"

"Look." The young soldier pointed to the tracks ahead of them. More tracks had joined the first set.

"Stop!" As Hitch slammed on the brakes Troy jumped out and examined the tracks in the sand. One set continued on toward the base while the others turned and headed toward the oasis. "Let's shake it!" Troy jumped back into his jeep and pulled the dust cover off of the machine gun in the rear.

Hitch glanced over as he dropped the cover between the seats. One look at his face and the blond pressed harder on the gas pedal. The jeep jumped forward on the trail of whoever had backtracked Moffitt's runaway horse. Hitch drove with one eye on the tracks and the other on the surrounding desert. They now knew that they weren't alone in the desert or the only ones back tracking the horse.

Troy climbed over the seat and used the base of the 50 for support. Taking a seat on the radio, he checked the ammunition for the gun. All he had to do now was locate the enemy and clear the chamber. Horse tracks didn't guarantee enemy fighters but the odds were against them being friendly. The fact that they were all headed for the same place sent a chill down Troy's back.

The jeep slowed and Troy took his eyes off of the distant dunes to look over at this driver.

"We're getting close Sarge." Hitch explained, chewing furiously on his gum. "Do we go straight in or do you want to circle around?"

"Tully's there."

"I know, and he'd warn us if he could, but he doesn't know exactly where we are. He can't give himself away to warn us until he knows we're close."

Torn between rushing in to check on Tully and playing it smart, Troy made the only choice he could. "Circle around without stirring up any dust."

"Got it Sarge." Hitch swung the jeep off of the trail and circled their intended target. Coming in from the opposite direction, he stayed out of sight as much as possible. The problem was, there was not a lot of cover around the oasis.

"Come in on the other side of that hill." Troy pointed at the highest hill around.

Hitch nodded and hugged the smaller hills for cover. Dropping his speed to a crawl, he inched his way to the base of the taller hill.

"Sarge!"

Troy didn't need the warning; he'd already seen Tully and his jeep surrounded by a large group of Arabs on horseback. Tully wasn't tied, but he didn't look free either.


	4. Chapter 4

**Outbreak**

By:AliasCWN

Chapter 4

Tully left Troy and Hitch and headed straight for the oasis where they had seen the temporary Arab camp. He tried to remember how many tents had been set up. Moffitt hadn't mentioned knowing anyone in the camp when they had spotted it earlier. Of course it was possible that he hadn't known of his friend's presence at the time. Tully had to admit, if only to himself, they might not find the sergeant at the oasis at all. He refused to believe that the other man was dead.

The sun was dropping lower in the sky as he approached the oasis. Mindful that he was alone, he chose to circle around and approach from a different direction. He decided to keep the sun to his back as he approached, making it harder for anyone to see him. A tall hill provided the only cover for the jeep so he angled toward it and came in behind it. Parking the jeep, he grabbed a pair of binoculars and a rifle and climbed to the top of the hill. Lying flat, he focused the glasses on the oasis.

The tents were still there, billowing in the breeze. He counted five of them, set up in a circle around the waterhole. Shading the glasses so that the sun wouldn't glare off of them, he studied the camp.

The first thing he noticed was the lack of movement. There was no sign of anything alive in the entire camp. The longer he watched the more confused he became. He didn't consider himself an expert on Arabs but he was pretty sure that the camp below was not a normal one. Using the glasses, he studied the area around the oasis.

A series of mounds on the side of one dune drew his attention. He focused the glasses on that area thinking that the Germans or the Arabs might have built the mounds to camouflage weapons or as foxholes. Twisting the adjustment on the glasses, he took another look. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as he realized what he was actually seeing.

It took him a minute to process the sight before him. The mounds were neatly spaced, uniform in length and width. Only the final two were smaller. Children's graves, Tully's mind explained the difference in size of the mounds. 'They're all graves' he thought out loud, 'a long line of them and fresh too.' The wind had not leveled them off yet. The empty camp made a lot more sense now. The owners of the tents apparently no longer needed them. Tully rolled onto his back and fought his reaction to the mounds. For a moment he wondered if there had been a massacre at the oasis. He didn't know how else to explain the number of graves. To him they all looked fresh so it wasn't a long established burial site.

Turning back, Tully focused on the camp again. There was still no movement, no sign of life at all. A slight vibration in the sand registered on his senses. He listened but he didn't hear anything. Placing his ear to the ground he listened for the tell-tale trickling of the sand like Moffitt had taught him. He heard it right away, not a small trickle either, it sounded like a lot of movement. Letting the binoculars fall onto the strap around his neck, Tully grabbed his rifle and ran for the jeep.

He almost made it. He was only about twenty feet from the jeep when the first horseman swept around the base of the hill. The Arab rode gracefully, balancing easily as he waved his rifle in the air. He spotted Tully at the same time that Tully saw him.

Tully dropped to his knees, taking aim, prepared to fight his way to his jeep. That thought ended as another, and then another rider raced toward him from behind the hill. In moments he was surrounded by rifle toting Arabs who looked angry about something.

The Arabs rode circles around Tully, yelling to one another, waving their weapons. Tully lowered his rifle, keeping it ready but not threatening. Another rider rode up on a powerful white horse that looked familiar to Tully. He looked into the rider's covered face and was surprised to recognize the leader of the group.

"Dhakhil?" Tully drawled with a dip of his head to show respect.

The Arab leader sat atop his prancing horse and studied the American soldier before him. He acknowledged the sign of respect and recognized the quiet demeanor. Remembering another time when this soldier and his companions had been wrongly accused, he paused to consider the facts that he had in evidence.

"Why are you here?" He asked in his accented English.

"We're searching for Sergeant Moffitt, the one you call 'English'. He went missing this morning." Tully explained calmly. Tully too remembered their earlier misunderstanding and he tried to keep it simple.

"You are alone?"

Tully hesitated, he didn't want to lie, but he also didn't want to help them set a trap for Hitch and Troy. "The others are looking in another direction."

Dhakhil listened for the sound of a lie. His ears told him that the soldier before him was being honest but his hesitation concerned him. "They will join you here?"

Tully hesitated again. "If they don't find him, they might."

"They will not find him." Dhakhil assured him.

Tully wanted to ask him how he could be so sure but Dhakhil had turned away.

"Go to your machine and wait, they will join you, and then we will talk."

Watching Dhakhil ride away, Tully frowned. He didn't know what was going on but he did know that the Arabs knew something about Moffitt's disappearance. An Arab prodded him in the back and motioned him toward his vehicle. Tully glared at him and walked to his jeep. The Arab dropped back as if frightened. Keeping his rifle in his hands as he sat in the jeep, Tully tried to relax as his nerves tingled with suspense.

Dhakhil and his men appeared to be almost as tense as Tully. Their horses sensed their nervous energy and pranced around in circles. Tully caught Dhakhil staring at the sun several times. A movement at the top of the next hill caught his eye. He was sure that he had seen the top of Troy's hat over the crest of the next hill. Rising to stand next to his jeep, Tully stretched as if his muscles had stiffened from sitting.

The Arabs raised their rifles in his direction. Dhakhil eyed him curiously, watching to see what he would do next. Tully smiled disarmingly and sat back down on the seat. The Arabs were all watching him and missed Troy and Hitch moving into position.

"Dhakhil, tell your men to move back."

The Arab wheeled his horse at the sound of Troy's voice.

"Sergeant Troy, come down, we need to talk."

"Let Tully go."

Dhakhil looked over his shoulder at Tully. With a few terse words he ordered his men to move away from the private.

Troy waited until Tully was clear before he lowered his weapon.

"I wish to talk Sergeant Troy." Dhakhil repeated.

"Hitch, cover me." Troy lowered his rifle and stood up. Digging his heels into the sand, he moved down the hill toward the Arabs.

"Stop there Sergeant." Dhakhil stopped him before he got close. The other Arabs were showing signs of increased nervousness.

"What is this all about Dhakhil? I thought that we proved that we were friends and that we could be trusted."

"There are stories Sergeant." The Arab leader explained.

"Well you can't believe everything you hear." Troy reminded him. "What kinds of stories?"

"Stories of sickness and death. Many of our people are dying of some strange illness"

"I'm sorry Dhakhil." Troy responded. "I could ask our doctors to try to help find a cure."

"Do you have one?" The Arab asked suspiciously.

"We won't know until we find out what is killing your people." The sergeant explained. "If we could get a doctor to examine someone who is sick, maybe we could help."

"But you don't know?"

"How could we?" Troy demanded, beginning to suspect that there might be more to this than just a story.

"The stories say that our people get sick after talking to your people but your people are not sick."

"You mean you think that they are getting it from us?" Troy asked in disbelief. "Look at us, we're not sick."

"What about 'English'?"

"English? Moffitt? What about him? Do you know where he is?"

"Yes."

"Well tell us Dhakhil, we're looking for him."

"He is in the camp below at the oasis." Dhakhil answered, watching the sergeant closely. "But you must not go there."

"Why not?"

"There is death there, much death."

"Moffitt?"

"No, not English, at least not yet."

"You're not making any sense Dhakhil, what do you mean, not yet?"

"There was much sickness and death here. Then English entered the camp. He must not be allowed to leave. If he leaves he will carry the sickness with him." Dhakhil sighed and tried again to make the sergeant understand. "It is believed that your people are giving this sickness to my people. There are those who believe that we should band together and drive your people out of our lands."

"We wouldn't do that!" Troy argued. "Look Dhakhil, let us look into it. We've heard rumors that the Germans may be testing a new disease. They may be trying to use it to turn your people against us. Give us time to get to the bottom of this. If it's true we may be able to find the cure to help your people."

"Once before we blamed you for something that was not of your doing. I don't wish to blame the wrong people again. If it is the Germans, then we must know of it. You may have until the new moon to find the truth."

"The new moon, four days." Troy repeated. "We will get Sergeant Moffitt and start right away."

"No. English must stay in the camp. He must not be allowed to spread this sickness."

"Dhakhil, we need him." Troy insisted. Thinking quickly, he added, "What if we promise not to go near any of your people? We would only go among the Germans or our own people."

Dhakhil considered the compromise. "Very well, if you will give me your word."

Troy nodded. "You have it. All we want is the truth. If it turns out that this new illness does not come from the Germans I will get our doctors to try to find a cure."

Dhakhil accepted his promise, trusting him to keep it. "You have until the new moon. After that, a council of tribes will meet to decide what to do."

"Thank you Dhakhil. We will meet you in four days and let you know what we have discovered."

"We will be near here." The Arab answered. "If you wish to speak to us, build a fire atop this very hill." Waving his hand, Dhakhil urged his followers to follow him. With one wild yell, he raced away with the others crowding behind him, eager to get away from the scene of all of the death.

"There's a whole string of graves just over the hill Sarge." Tully informed Troy of his discovery as they watched the Arabs race away. "You don't think that Moffitt was exposed down there do you?"

"I don't know Tully; this is what we were supposed to investigate. If Moffitt was exposed then that is all the more reason to get to the bottom of this. If the Germans are behind it, we need to find a cure fast."

"What are we waiting for Sarge? Let's go get Moffitt."


	5. Chapter 5

**Outbreak**

By:AliasCWN

Chapter 5

Jack Moffitt heard the jeeps before he saw them. He had been busy collecting containers to carry water in preparation for is long walk back to the base. Knowing that he wouldn't stand much of a chance during the daylight hours, he had rested during the day and waited for the sun to go down.

Tully stopped at the edge of the oasis, not coming in. Troy and Hitch stopped next to him, waiting for something.

Moffitt charged out into the fading daylight. "Troy, am I glad to see you!"

"Moffitt!"

Troy's subdued tone stopped Moffitt in his tracks. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Troy looked around the camp, taking note of the things that Tully had already noticed. "The camp seems pretty empty Moffitt. Where is that friend that you came to visit?"

"I don't know." Moffitt admitted. "The camp was empty when I arrived. I don't know where everyone is at the moment."

"Well I can tell you where a lot of them are, and they're not going anywhere." Troy replied, watching Moffitt closely.

"You found bodies?"

"Graves, a lot of graves."

Moffitt hung his head. "I must admit, I suspected as much; the signs were all there."

"Arabs are dying all over the place, not just here." Troy explained. "They think that we are giving them the sickness by mixing with them."

"Are we?"

"I have no idea, but we've been ordered to find out." Troy looked toward the desert surrounding them. "Headquarters wants us to run down some rumors that the Germans are spreading some new germ….and Dhakhil has given us four days to prove that it's not us."

"Dhakhil?"

"Yeah, he's out there watching us right now. It seems that some of the leaders want to band together and drive us out of the desert. Dhakhil is willing to give us the benefit of the doubt."

"Four days? Can we do it in four days? Did headquarters give us any idea where to start?" Moffitt rubbed a hand over his eyes.

"Are you feeling all right?" Troy took a step toward Moffitt and stopped.

Seeing the hesitation, Moffitt smiled. "Fine, just tired. I spent the entire afternoon trying to figure out what happened here. I was almost afraid to drink the water because it might be contaminated."

"Maybe it is."

"No, the water isn't to blame if it's happening in other places. Besides, there were survivors; someone had to bury the bodies."

"But you have no idea how it spreads?" Troy asked, already expecting a negative answer.

"No." Moffitt admitted. "Thank you." He took the canteen that Tully handed him. "If headquarters thinks that the Germans are to blame, perhaps we can find a cure quickly. Even they wouldn't spread a disease that they didn't have a cure for if their people were accidently infected."

"Then maybe we should find the source." Troy ordered. "We only have four days before we have a whole new set of problems because of this." He looked around the camp with distaste. "And I don't know about you, but I would prefer being someplace else. Maybe we should burn these tents."

"Excellent idea Troy, I would have done it myself but I wasn't sure if I would need their shelter."

"I think I'd rather take my chances with the desert." Hitch muttered, looking uneasily at the empty tents.

"All right, grab a flare and burn them all." Troy ordered. "Moffitt, we need to go over a map and come up with a plan and a starting point."

Moffitt nodded, but his eyes followed the two privates as they burned the first tent.

"Dhakhil tells me that there have been other outbreaks." Troy's statement pulled Moffitt's attention back to the problem they faced. "He said it only happened where the locals have interacted with American troops."

"At least this time they didn't blame us personally."

"Dhakhil said he was willing to give us a chance to prove our innocence because of what happened before."

"Generous of him." Moffitt replied dryly.

"Don't knock it, at least he gave us four days, let's make the most of them."

"Right." Moffitt sighed, thinking of Mahiteem. "There's not much that we can do tonight. I suggest that we head for the large base north of here in the morning. I think we should find a camp for the night; not here though, someplace at least several miles away."

"I promised Dhakhil we'd stay away from his people until this mystery is solved. He didn't want anyone else infected."

"But how will we ask questions? That may have been a mistake Troy." The Brit suggested firmly.

"Maybe Doctor, but it was the only way he'd allow you to leave the oasis, and we need you to help solve this puzzle." Troy explained. At the Brit's surprised expression, he continued. "They are afraid that you were infected here and that you would spread it if you were allowed to leave. I think they planned to guarantee that you never left here."

"I see," The Brit sighed, "probably a wise precaution. In that case, thank you for your intervention."

The other sergeant smiled. "Like I said, we need you. Are you sure that you're feeling all right?"

"Fine, if I caught anything, I'm sure that the incubation period has not expired…You do realize, if I get sick, you will be exposed if you haven't been already?" He looked over at the two privates who were still burning the rest of the tents.

"We considered that." Troy admitted. "We," he indicated himself and the two privates, "decided that we were willing to take that chance. But for safety's sake, I think that we should find a cure for this thing as soon as possible."

"Agreed." Moffitt bent to the map. "Where were the other outbreaks?"

The sergeants were still pouring over the maps when Hitch and Tully returned. "All done Sarge."

Troy looked up. "All right, get ready to go. We're going to drive until dark and then find a place to camp."

"I'll sure feel a lot better once we get away from here." Tully admitted.

"I'll feel a lot better once this assignment is done." Hitchcock clarified.

"Then let's shake it." Troy scanned the desert as they left the oasis. Atop the hill where they had been told to light the signal fire, he saw movement. Turning for a better look, he saw an Arab on horseback watching their departure. The smoke from the burning tents rose up behind him, circling into the sky as it swirled around the trees.


	6. Chapter 6

**Outbreak**

By:AliasCWN

Chapter 6

"What do you think?"

"I think it's a long shot. Even if Dietrich knows, I'm not sure he'd be willing to tell us." Moffitt focused his glasses on the distant scout column trying to locate the German captain. "We don't even know if he's with the column."

"We have to start somewhere." Troy replied. "I have a feeling that Dietrich wouldn't go along with any plan to make the Arabs sick, he has friends among them the same as we do."

"Perhaps you're right, maybe he would tell us, but his sense of honor is well known, those responsible may have withheld any information from him."

"Then we've lost nothing, at least it's a place to start. I think it's worth the risk."

"All right." Moffitt agreed. "What's the plan?"

"We wait for dark and let them get settled for the night, and then we go in and pay our favorite German a visit."

"We'll lose one whole day."

"But if he knows something we'll be way ahead."

"If Troy…..if."

The two jeeps followed the scout column for the rest of the day, staying out of sight but keeping their eyes on it. When the column stopped for the night, Troy made his plans.

"Hitch, stay with the jeeps. Make sure that no one comes near them. Tully, you guard our way out. Moffitt and I will go in and talk to the Captain. If anything goes wrong, head out and wait for us on the other side of the camp, we'll meet you there. If we're not back by daylight I want you to hightail it out f here. If Dietrich catches us he'll be waiting for you."

Neither private liked the plan but they agreed, knowing that it was the best plan.

"All right, let's go Moffitt."

Captain Dietrich turned down his lantern and stretched out on his cot. His column had seen nothing all day to alarm them and as a result they had had a boring day. Boring was good in that no one died, but boring was boring. Closing his eyes, he tried to shut down his thoughts and go to sleep.

A slight sound, barely anything, outside his tent sent him back to his feet. He stained to hear anything else, something that he could identify. The minutes passed and there was nothing else. Laughing at himself, Dietrich returned to his cot. This time sleep overtook him almost immediately. He dreamed that his arch nemesis, Sergeant Sam Troy, was hiding in his tent. He awoke with a start to find Sam Troy standing over him.

"Quiet Captain." The sergeant warned, holding his weapon casually.

"What do you want now Sergeant?" Dietrich tried to hide his racing heartbeat behind a calm tone.

"We want to talk Captain."

"Don't you have any friends you could talk to? I suggest you try talking to Sergeant Moffitt, or perhaps one of your privates."

Troy grinned; he loved the banter he shared with the German officer, it kept things interesting. "I feel like talking to you Captain."

"I have nothing to say to you Sergeant; you are wasting your time."

"Now Captain, that's not very friendly. We go to all of this trouble and you don't even wait to hear what we have to say." Troy smiled down at him as Moffitt guarded the door.

Sitting up slowly, Dietrich calculated his chances and found that he didn't like them much.

"I'll tell you what Captain," Troy smiled pleasantly, "I'll talk and you listen. If at any time you wish to add something, we'd be glad to listen."

"All right Sergeant, if that will help me to get rid of you, I'll listen." The German officer sighed.

"Now you see, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Troy responded with a smile. Troy began to tell the Captain about the new disease that was killing the Arabs. He neglected to tell him that the Americans were getting the blame. "So you see Captain, our superiors think that your superiors may know something about all of this." Troy finished. "So we were wondering if you may have heard of any new virus that they might be experimenting with in the area."

"And why would I tell you?"

"Because Captain, I don't think that you like this kind of warfare anymore that we do. Besides, I know you have friends among the Arabs. Do you really want to help the German high command murder hundreds of civilians just to prove that their virus works? That's not the kind of war I signed on for, how about you?"

"How do I know that you are telling the truth?" Dietrich asked the question to buy himself time to think; he didn't for a moment believe that the sergeant would fabricate such a story.

"Just ask around Captain, see how many Arabs are dying. Women, children, the old and the young, the weakest; they die first. From what I hear, it's a slow, painful death; taking a toll on the survivors as well as the victims."

"All right Sergeant, I get the picture. To answer your question, I haven't heard of it and I haven't heard of any experiments being conducted. I'm afraid I can't help you."

"Or them Captain?" Troy asked softly.

"Or them, I have no information to give you."

Troy sighed. "All right Captain, I believe you, but it was worth a try. I didn't really think you would allow anything like this to happen on your turf."

"Hardly Sergeant." The Captain agreed sadly. "Wars should be fought by soldiers with soldiers." He eyed Troy warily. "More Sergeant?"

Troy chuckled. "We're leaving Captain. If you think that you can stay quiet for the next five minutes, maybe we can get out of here without killing any of your men."

"That would be a pleasant change Sergeant."

"You do your part Captain and we'll give it a try."

Dietrich hesitated before he nodded. "Very well Sergeant, for the sake of my men, I agree."

"Pleasant dreams Captain." Troy gave a hasty salute and headed for the hole he had cut in the tent wall.

Moffitt followed and chuckled as he exited the tent.

"What was so funny back there?" Troy asked as they rejoined Tully without running into any other sentries.

"Dietrich." Moffitt answered.

"What about him?"

"He suggested that next time we just knock on his door rather than cut holes in his tent wall all of the time."

Now Troy chuckled. "Yeah right."

"So what now?"

"Now we do it the hard way." Troy answered grumpily. "It would have been so much easier if Dietrich had been able to tell us something." They left Dietrich's camp far behind before they made their own camp for the night.

"You know Troy; we may be looking at this all wrong."

"How so Doctor?"

"Maybe this is a naturally occurring disease. You say that it seems to be confined to the Arabs who are around the American troops?"

"So?"

"So maybe it is something that the Arabs aren't immune to but we are. If they are friendly with the Allies, perhaps they met in areas where new soldiers are frequenting. Perhaps some of these troops are bringing in some new virus that doesn't affect them. That would explain why the other Arabs haven't been infected yet."

"What about the rumors?"

"You said that there are no rumors that specifically say that the Germans are responsible. Headquarters wasn't able to give us any evidence, or even a starting point. Perhaps we need to approach this from another angle."

"There's one big problem with that."

"What's that?"

Troy frowned. "We can't talk to any Arabs and ask questions. It's going to be hard to figure out how this spreads if we aren't able to talk to any of the victims or their families."

"There is that." Moffitt admitted softly. "All right, so we continue to pursue this angle."

"One day gone, three to go." Troy reminded him. "Tomorrow we head for the base up north and see if we can find out anything there. Maybe if we raid their files we can pick up something useful."

"Anything they want to keep secret will be locked in a safe, not stored in a filing cabinet." Moffitt warned.

"Maybe we can find memos on travel plans that match the outbreaks; or some visitors to various bases who may be involved. I'm open to suggestions here Doctor."

"Sorry old man, I'm out of ideas. I suggest that we follow your plan until something better occurs to us."

"Gee thanks." Troy grumbled. "Then I suggest that we get some sleep, it's going to be a long, hot drive tomorrow."

Moffitt nodded. "Wake me up when it's my turn to stand guard." The sergeant found his bedroll and made himself a bed. He ignored the slight ache in his stomach.

"Is Doc okay?" Tully looked concerned when Troy relieved him on watch.

"Fine, as far as I know. Why?"

"I don't know." Tully shrugged. "He just seemed a bit off."

Troy smiled. "He's worried, we all are; I'm sure he's fine. If he were sick he'd let us know."

"Do we know anything about this sickness Sarge?"

"We know that it's hitting the Arabs hard, and that it kills. So far no one has figured out how to cure it. Our job is to find out the rest."

"I know all of that Sarge." Tully huffed. "I meant, do we know what the symptoms are? Do we know how it affects you when you're infected? Do you get big purple spots or turn green, or what?"

"As far as I know, there are no purple spots, big or otherwise, and no reports of anyone turning green." Troy eyed his private, noting the worry in his normally calm brown eyes. "Headquarters didn't specify what the symptoms might be Tully; I don't know how to tell if you're infected until you actually get sick."

"And then it's too late?"

"I don't know that either." Troy noticed the flash of annoyance that crossed the private's face. "I'd tell you if I knew Tully. This affects us all so I won't keep any secrets, I'd tell you if I knew anything."

Tully dropped his head. "Okay Sarge, fair enough. I gotta tell you though, I don't like this assignment."

"None of us do Tully, but nobody ask us. We have our orders and we have to carry them out. All we can do is look out for each other and stay alert for any signs of a problem."

"I got it Sarge. I guess when you come right down to it, it's just another mission."

"Get some rest Tully; you have a long drive tomorrow."


	7. Chapter 7

**Outbreak**

By:AliasCWN

Chapter 7

Sunset found the Rat Patrol sitting on a ridge above the German camp. The rather large base was tucked into a valley surrounded by mountains. Halftracks and machine gun nests guarded the entrances, all three of them.

"Getting in won't be easy Troy. We won't be able to get the jeeps anywhere near the entrances." Moffitt watched as a German staff car approached one of the gates. The guards stepped out and checked the driver's papers, then searched the car itself, before allowing them to pass. "You need papers to get off the base and they check the car before they let you pass. I can only imagine how well they search the cars coming in."

"Maybe we can grab a car with papers and some uniforms." Troy suggested hopefully.

"I don't know." Moffitt frowned. "I think they checked their ID's too. We have no way to make new ones and we'd never pass for the Germans in the car."

"Then we'll have to find another way in." Troy replied with a shrug.

"We could climb down the cliff." Tully suggested.

"They'd spot the ropes." Troy argued. "If we leave them there they'll spot them before we get back. We can't pull them back up without leaving a man behind. We're going to need everybody to pull this off."

"Are there any caves in these mountains?" Hitch asked. "Anything that might open into the valley?"

"Nothing on the maps." Troy answered.

"None that I remember." Moffitt added.

"What about camel trails? The Arabs used this valley before the Germans took it over." Hitch insisted.

"None on the map." Troy repeated.

"Doc?"

"None that I am aware of." Moffitt repeated.

"What about a rock slide?" Tully asked.

"A rockslide?"

"Yeah, we cause one during the day, and we use it to get into the valley at night."

"They'd have crews cleaning it up Tully." Moffitt pointed out.

"Yeah, but they won't be looking for anyone to grab some of those guys and steal their uniforms." Hitch added as he grasped the basis for Tully's idea. "We could move around the slide pretty easy as part of the crew."

Troy looked at Moffitt and they both started to smile. "It just might work, only the slide will have to look natural if we don't want to alert the Germans."

"And it needs to put enough rock down there to give us access both in and out of the valley." Moffitt confirmed.

"All we need to do is start it and let nature do the rest." Hitch explained with a smile.

"Moffitt, do you think that you could find us a likely spot close enough to give us access to the headquarters without putting us under the spotlights?"

"I can try." The British sergeant answered. "These cliffs are old and crumbly. Usually the rockslides occur during the rainy season but they aren't entirely unheard of this time of year."

"Then let's take a look, it beats any idea that I've been able to come up with so far." Troy admitted.

The Germans kept a roving guard patrolling the ridges above the base. A radio in the back of the car gave them the ability to keep in touch with the base. Troy timed its passage while he waited for Moffitt to find a suitable ledge for their plan.

The patrol car came within yards of the crouching soldiers. All four occupants of the patrol car searched the rocky ridge for any signs of intruders but they weren't really expecting to see anything. As a result, they scanned the terrain carelessly and didn't really pay attention to what they saw. Troy ducked his head and didn't look at the guards as they passed. He didn't want them to have any sense of being watched. They were close enough that he could tell the color of their eyes if it hadn't been so dark. He could feel their eyes pass over him and it left him feeling vulnerable. The car didn't stop, or even slow, as it passed their hiding place. The notch in the rocks was deep enough to keep them in the shadows and conceal their presence.

"That was close." Hitch whispered next to Troy's ear.

"Too close." Tully added.

"They missed us," Troy whispered with a grin, "no cigar."

"Here comes Moffitt." Tully spotted the other sergeant coming in a crouching run. He shifted slightly to give the Brit more room to join them.

"I found it." Moffitt announced, sounding out of breath. "Not too far from the headquarters but far enough back to be out of range of all but the searchlights. The ledge is fairly big but the blast will have to take a smaller ledge with it if we hope to knock down enough rock to get in and out of the valley."

"Just show me what you want." Hitch replied, hefting his bag of explosives.

They had to duck the patrol three times while Hitch was busy setting the charges. There were also the guards in the towers to concern them. The towers were high enough that Troy was worried that they might be able to spot movement on the ridge above the base. When building the base, the Germans had blasted the cliffs almost vertical to give them more room and to keep the enemy from attacking from the rear. Those vertical walls were the very ones that Moffitt had targeted to give them access to the valley floor.

Troy and Tully were waiting when Hitch and Moffitt returned.

"I set the timer for one hour. I didn't want to let them see us leaving the area." Hitch explained when they returned. "The small charges should fracture the big ledge; the other charges are positioned so the pressure of the rock will set them off. Hopefully the noise of the slide will cover the sounds of the charges. Doc says a real rockslide makes a very similar sound when the rock fractures."

"All right, let's get out of here. We'll come back later and see if the slide will be enough to let us get in and out."

"And it it's not?" Hitch asked.

"Then we find another way."

The four of them returned to their hidden jeeps. They were busy covering them in case a plane flew over when the ground shook. Looking toward the valley they saw a huge cloud of dust rising above the cliffs.

"I didn't hear the explosions." Moffitt noted.

"They're closer, maybe they did." Troy cautioned.

"I told you Sarge, it would have sounded a lot like the rock cracking. I spread them out and kept the charges small. The first ones all went off at once; the weight of the rocks would have set the others off. Once the rocks started sliding they wouldn't have heard a bomb going off."

"We'll go back and check in a bit. I want to wait and let them satisfy themselves that this was a natural occurring slide. They'll send up work details to clear the rock and it will be chaotic until they get the workers organized. If they send a work detail to the top we may be able to take them unaware and get the uniforms that we need."

"If they don't?"

"Then we'll have to make our way to the bottom and get them there."

"I sure hope we find something good after we went to all of this trouble." Hitchcock sighed.

"Don't tell me you're getting tired of blowing things up."

"No way Sarge, that's the best part." His driver declared.

"Then what's the problem?"

"Chasing rumors about this disease Sarge." Hitch stated. "This mission could kill us even if we don't face any Germans at all. I don't mind fighting the Germans, or the Germans and the Arabs, but this, I don't like this Sarge. I didn't sign on to be a guinea pig for some sick doctor or scientist. Why can't they just fight this war with soldiers instead of germs?"

"Dead is dead Hitch."

"That may be, but I'd rather they shoot me any day."

"It may come to that, I hope not, but it may. Look, I don't want to get sick either, but we need to follow through on this. If we don't do it the Arabs will keep dying. Who else is going to care about them?"

Hitch stared at Troy in surprise. "They'd send someone else, wouldn't they?"

"Sure, but the next guys might not care how long it takes to get to the bottom of it. How many more Arabs will die?"

"Okay, okay, I get it Sarge; I still don't like it, but I get it."

"We'll find the source Hitch, and we'll find a cure if anyone has one. Not because we were ordered to but because it is the right thing to do."

"Are you sure that it's not because of the orders?" Hitch asked with a smirk.

"That may be part of it, but not the most important part. We'll do this for the other reasons Hitch, for all of the innocent victims and our own peace of mind."

"You're right; I should have thought it through. I'm with you Sarge, you're right, we need to do this."

Troy smiled at his driver. "I knew you would be with me Hitch. I count on you…you, Tully and Moffitt, more than you know. More than I care to admit. We're a good team because we think a lot alike and believe in much the same things. I never had any doubt that the three of you would be onboard with this as much as I am."

"I guess we should go see if my charges did the job." The blond reddened as he lowered his head.

"Yeah, maybe we should." Troy smiled at the blush and turned away to let the young soldier have some privacy. He believed in what they were doing but he desperately hoped that none of his men paid the price for his decision to accept this assignment.

The four of them took extra care to return to the top of the cliff. Even from a distance they could see the results of their efforts. The large ledge had broken free and slid into the valley below. As the large ledge fell, it took other rocks with it. There was now a large notch in the vertical wall at the rear of the base. The wall no longer stood straight and clear, now it angled from the top of the cliff to the valley floor.

Troy smiled at the sight. "Congratulations Hitch, you and Moffitt moved a mountain."

"That was the easy part Sarge." His driver smiled at him. "Now we need to get those uniforms and sneak onto a base full of nervous troops to steal something that may not even be there."

The sergeant looked from his driver to the others. "Piece of cake," He offered with a grin.


	8. Chapter 8

**Outbreak**

By:AliasCWN

Chapter 8

Work crews were organized to clean the rock from the valley floor. The German forces had stood in awe and watched as the mountains had cracked apart and slid downward, filling up the valley with rocks and dirt. Many had heard the first cracks as the rock broke loose, seen the first shift of dirt and boulders, and ran in fear as the mountain fell. The ground had shaken and rumbled, throwing things around and knocking over stacks of oil drums. Oil leaked out in large puddles, pooling around on the ground around the buildings used to house the motor pool and store the vehicles. Crews worked frantically to fill and stack sand bags to keep the oil from leaking into the building where their ammunition was stored.

Troy used his binoculars to watch the activity below.

"Hitch, Tully, I want you two to work your way around the base and plant some charges. We'll leave them with the idea that we came to blow up the base. If we can blow up the offices too, they'll never know what we were looking for."

"Got it Sarge."

"Moffitt and I will search the files. If the alarm sounds, get out and head back to the jeeps. If we don't join you within an hour I want you to use your own judgement."

"We'll try for that spilled oil," Hitch announced, "that ought to take their ammunition supply. At the very least it will cause a huge fire with lots of smoke. With all of the confusion it ought to be easier to get away."

"Sounds good, just don't get caught." Troy warned in a growl.

"We're always careful Sarge." Tully drawled.

"Well be extra careful." The sergeant told him in response.

"We'd better go." Moffitt interrupted. "I think they have a detail checking the ridge up here."

Troy turned to his second-in-command. "Any chance we can take them?"

"No." Moffitt shook his head. "They have a walkie-talkie and they're staying in touch with someone below. Anything happens to them and they'd be missed immediately."

"Then we'd better get down there. We don't want them to spot us up here; nobody is supposed to be up here."

"There is an area over along the other edge of the slide that is out of the lights. Maybe we can rig a rope to slide down and pull it down after us. We'll have German uniforms when we come back up." Hitch suggested.

"All right." Troy agreed. "Gather the explosives you'll need. Moffitt and I will cover you and Tully while you go down, we'll follow once you're safely hidden. We'll stash the rope down there somewhere once everyone is down"

"Right Sarge, I have a couple of bags packed already, all I have to do is grab them."

"Do it." Troy glanced at his watch. "We'll meet at the bottom of the slide, near that big rock, in two hours. As long as things stay quiet we won't bunch up until it's time to leave. We don't want to draw attention to ourselves by lingering too long in one place." The sergeant looked at each of his men. "If things go wrong I want you to get out any way that you can."

Three heads bobbed in acknowledgement. With a single nod Troy gave the signal to start their mission. Hitch slid down the rope with a bag of explosives and his rifle strapped to his back. There were a few tense moments as some loose rocks rattled to the bottom. When none of the German soldiers paid any attention Hitch dropped the rest of the way and stood guard while Tully followed. Tully too carried a pack full of explosives and a rifle. Moffitt came down next, sliding the entire way with practiced ease. All three stood guard until Troy could join them and pull the rope down after him. Coiling the rope, he stashed it near the rock where they planned to meet.

The sky was cloudless and the stars sparkled brighter because the moon was only a fraction of its full brilliance. The German soldiers toiled under the glare of spotlights powered by generators. The light spoiled their night vision, making it easier for the four intruders to slink unnoticed around the base. Even the guards would occasionally loo toward the lights to track the activity.

Pausing behind a building built solidly of stone, Troy whispered one final reminder. "Two hours at the rock from right now." Everyone checked their watches, noting the exact time, and mentally starting the two hour countdown. One more nod and the two groups split up to start their individual tasks.

Troy and Moffitt continued deeper into the base, heading for the largest building. All of the buildings were relatively new and it made sense that the largest one would be the headquarters for the base. The building was a full three floors above the ground with barred windows that suggested a basement.

"Cells below?" Troy asked in a whisper.

"Perhaps, or possibly storage rooms for files." Moffitt whispered in return. "Here." He handed Troy a bag containing several timed charges. At Troy's puzzled frown Moffitt smiled, holding up his own bag. "Hitch said they were insurance. If we get caught we can claim our goal was to blow up the building. He actually pointed out that we would have a hard time convincing anyone if we didn't have any explosives with us. Besides, you wanted to blow it up if we get the chance."

Troy smiled. "Did you tell him that we weren't planning on getting caught?"

"Of course."

"Actually he has a point." Troy admitted.

"Actually," Moffitt added, "we could plant them somewhere instead of carrying them around. All we need is one to be convincing."

"Lead on Doctor. We'll leave them a few small surprises as we go."

The building wasn't locked. Guards paced the halls, giving the commanders the illusion of having their offices and files secure. Troy and Moffitt followed one of the guards along the hall. They quickly and quietly peeked into offices after the guard turned the next corner. Whenever he returned their way they would hide in an office until he passed. Little by little, office by office, they checked the first floor.

"Nothing." Troy grunted in disgust.

"Second floor?"

Troy shrugged. "We're here."

The guard on the second floor picked up on a small sound that one of them made. He changed his routine and tried to double back quietly. Moffitt heard the sound of his jacket brushing against the wall. Pushing Troy, they ducked behind a desk normally manned by a secretary or an aide.

A flashlight flicked on, its beam running along the nearly empty hall. It paused on the front of the desk and then moved on.

Troy fingered his knife, ready to throw it if the guard presented him with a target. He could hear the man breathing, shallow, and slow, as he listened for the sound that had drawn his attention. Both sergeants breathed through their mouths, tense and alert.

With a grunt the guard flicked his light off and turned his back on them. They listened as he slowly made his way down the hall. Several times they heard him rattling door knobs as he walked down the hall, checking to see that they were locked.

"Can you pick the locks before he gets back?" Troy peered through the darkness, trying to see Moffitt nod.

"I'll try."

Troy moved out from behind the desk and tried the first door. It opened. He stepped inside and looked around. The office was Spartan in style, leading him to decide that it belonged to a lower ranking officer. Moffitt slid in behind him and carefully pushed the door until the latch clicked. He put a finger to his lips and hoped that the other sergeant could see the motion. Troy didn't see the warning but the other man's actions were enough to tell him that something was wrong. Moffitt stepped behind the door as footsteps sounded in the hall. Troy chose a freestanding bookshelf to provide his cover. He crouched low as the doorknob turned and he guard's light moved around the room. Again the guard grunted, closed the door, and resumed his rounds.

Troy started to move toward the door but Moffitt stopped him.

"There….there's a door connecting the two offices. If I can pick that lock we won't be exposed in the hall."

Troy nodded. "I'll listen for the guard." He leaned against the door and plastered his ear to the wooden panel. He turned to warn the British sergeant that the guard was returning only to see him straighten and swing the adjoining door open. Rushing toward him, Troy shoved him through the doorway into the next office. He clicked the lock as the door in the first office slowly swung open. Both men waited breathlessly until the guard's footsteps faded away down the hall.

Moffitt pulled a penlight from his pocket and held it between his teeth. He began to search the files as Troy checked to be sure that the blackout curtains were completely closed. Finally Moffitt shut the last drawer and turned off his light. The guard had passed several times, giving Troy the opportunity to time his routine.

"No luck Troy, we'll have to move on to the next office."

"The guard's due, we'll have to wait." Troy put his ear to the door to listen for the first sounds of the sentry's approach. "Did you find anything that could shed any light on this?"

"Nothing. I couldn't read everything but I skimmed most of it and I didn't find any mention of an outbreak or a virus. I still have no idea at all what is causing it."

"We have time for one more office." Troy whispered. "I set a charge in the office below this one. If we can find the commanders office we can set one in there too. If nothing else, blowing up his files will put a cramp in his base operations for a while."

"This is a captain's office; perhaps the commander's office will be next."

"Or two doors down, let's see which one is locked."

"Guard!"

They waited for the guard to pass and began checking for unlocked doors. Two doors down they found one. This one too had a door leading to the adjoining office. Moffitt picked that lock before the guard returned.

"You're getting faster."

"Practice." Moffitt responded with a smile. "We're in luck Troy." He whispered after going through the papers on the desk.

"You found something?" Troy rushed to the desk from his place by the door.

"Unfortunately no, not yet." Moffitt answered in a hushed voice. "But we did find the commander's office." Listening for the guard, the sergeant picked through the files in the drawers. "Troy! There's a report here about a 'special' visitor from Berlin; no name or rank listed but there are dates here. It sounds like the commander had a briefing over the phone about the visit."

"Any mention of Arabs or diseases?"

"Afraid not, just a reminder that he is due to arrive the day after tomorrow."

"Take it. See if you can find any other mention of the visit, we have to leave Moffitt."

The British sergeant pulled the papers from the folder and replaced the folder. Tucking the papers inside his shirt, he hurriedly scanned several more folders that sounded promising.

"Nothing else Troy. If there is any more I don't know where to look and we don't have time to search for it."

"All right, I'll plant this last charge and we'll get out of here. Keep an eye out for the guard." Chuckling, Troy planted the explosives under the German commander's desk chair. "It may not destroy his files but they'll be scattered all over and he'll be days getting them all sorted out." He was still grinning when he joined Moffitt by the door. They listened to the guard rattle the door knobs on his way past their door. Both men held their breath as the knob in front of them jiggled but held. As soon as the guard turned the corner they hurriedly left the room, locking the door behind them. Troy crept stealthily along the hall wondering how the privates were doing.

Meanwhile Hitch and Tully were creeping along the rear of the motor pool. There were several tanks parked behind the building next to a line of patrol cars.

"We can drop charges into the fuel tanks of the tanks." Hitch whispered. "I brought plenty. I also brought some smaller stuff that can be set off by another explosion close by. Maybe we can destroy most of these patrol cars so they won't have any vehicles to use to chase us."

"Sounds good." Tully agreed. "I'll start on the tanks if you want to get the cars."

Working quickly from long experience they soon finished the task and prepared to find another target. "It's odd that there are no guards." Hitch whispered as they finished.

"The commander probably has everybody working on the rockslide." Tully reasoned.

"Where to next?"

"Tully grinned. "We promised Sarge that we'd get the oil spill before they get it all cleaned up."

"They're not going to get that cleaned up any time soon." Hitch responded.

"We want to get the ammo depot too."

"There's a lot of activity there Tully."

"Yeah, maybe we should get those German uniforms before we try for it. We need them to go back up over the rockslide anyway."

"That might help. Have you picked out two guys our size yet?"

Tully nodded. "They just went around the back of that building. I think they're headed for the latrines." Tully noted Hitchcock's frown and smiled.

"There is just something so wrong about hitting a guy while his pants are down. Can we at least wait until they come out of the latrines?" Hitch shifted uneasily, waiting for Tully to agree.

"Sure Hitch, I wouldn't want you to fall into a puddle again. That last time you smelled for three days until we could get back to the base and shower."

"It wasn't my fault, and besides, Sarge didn't complain."

"No, he just covered his nose and mouth with a scarf every time he had to sit beside you." Tully grinned again. "Didn't you wonder why you drew extra guard duty?"

"I thought it was because I nearly let that guard sound the alarm."

"Hardly." Tully laughed quietly. "Sarge figured anybody out there would get one whiff of you and leave us alone."

"Very funny." Hitch sneered. "Just for that, maybe we should find someone else to donate their uniforms."

"No time." Tully argued. "We need to get the uniforms and set those charges."

The two stopped talking and took cover as a group of German soldiers marched past them.

"A fresh work detail for the clean-up." Tully remarked.

"The ones getting relieved are covered in mud." Hitch noticed. "We can smear mud on our faces and blend in better. If we look like we just came off duty it's less likely that some office will try to grab us for a work detail."

"Okay." Tully agreed. "But those two headed for the latrines were just the right size." Tully couldn't hide his smile as he followed Hitch into a gap between two buildings to lay a trap for two German soldiers.

Ten minutes later they were dressed as Germans and making their way toward the leaking oil drums. The soldiers cleaning up the spill ignored them as they worked under the lights. Tully and Hitch walked past without pausing, hoping that no officer would try to recruit them to help. Once past, Tully kept an eye on the Germans while Hitch ducked behind some stacked barrels to set the charges. Tucking them into a gap between the barrels, he rejoined Tully with a nod. Both privates hurried away before they attracted any unwanted attention.

"Where now?"

"What about the supply building?" Tully suggested.

"They have guys there handing out shovels and stuff for the clean-up." Hitch argued.

"Maintenance shed?"

Hitch located the building and noted that it was dark. "Let's go." Looking at his watch, he picked up the pace. "We have to hurry, we don't want to be late."

"Not so fast Hitch!" Tully hissed. He'd noted that their quicker pace had attracted the attention of an officer. "Go around the building."

"Why?" Hitch turned to him in confusion.

"Because we may be getting company. You go one way, I'll go the other. Maybe we can catch him off guard if he investigates."

The blond nodded, turning into the space next to the building they were passing. Tully kept going, waving at his friend's retreating back. He continued to move away while watching the officer out of the corner of his eye.

The officer stood in the light of a searchlight supervising a work detail. As Hitch turned and went between the buildings the officer stopped what he was doing and stared after the blond. Speaking to a sergeant next to him, the officer headed for the same gap that Hitchcock had taken. Tully turned the corner and ran around behind the next building. Running as lightly as he could, he tried to warn Hitch before the officer reached him.

He slowed as he got near, hoping that the officer had not heard him. The officer stood over Hitchcock who was kneeling on the ground. It sounded as if Hitch was sick, coughing, and retching. The officer stood back, waiting for him to finish. Tully pulled hos knife and threw it. The officer looked down in shock at the blade protruding from his chest. His eyes rose to look toward Tully as he slowly toppled to the ground.

"What took you so long?" Hitchcock demanded. "I don't think I could have stalled him much longer."

"Next time just stick him." Tully suggested.

"I couldn't without him sounding an alarm. He was already suspicious." The blond grumbled.

"Yeah, but now we need to hide the body so his sergeant doesn't find him before we can get out of here."

"How about in one of the cars?" They were only a short distance from where they had started.

"Too easy to find him." Tully argued.

"We could put him in the trunk."

"Okay but we need to hurry; I don't know what he told his sergeant." The two of them lifted the body and carried it to the nearby patrol cars. Hitch opened the trunk on the last one and they stuffed the body into the tight space.

Looking at his watch, Hitch groaned. "We don't have much time, we need to hurry."

"Let's go." Tully ordered. "We may need that diversion after all to get out of here."

They located a stream of oil leaking from the barrels running toward the maintenance shed. The work details weren't really worried about it because the oil wouldn't do much damage and could be cleaned up later. They concentrated on the other areas. Hitch and Tully knew that that would all change once the charge caught the oil on fire. It would spread quickly throughout the spill, including the oil that had already run into the shed.

Hitch had barely set the charges on the ground before Tully was pulling on his arm. The blond nodded and tugged his arm free. Tully led the way, walking while they were in sight, running when no one could see them. They ducked several work parties, either going to the slide or having been recently relieved. They made it back to the rock Troy had specified with only minutes to spare.

Two officers were walking slowly toward them, waving their hands around as they talked. As Tully and Hitch crouched in the shadows, the two officers altered their course and headed straight for them.

"Tully, Hitch, meet us at the rock." Troy called as the two officers passed. The privates moved around in the shadows until they had a clear view of the rock. The two officers were already there. Stepping out of the shadows, they walked boldly up to the officers.

"We'll pretend that we are looking at the slide." Troy explained as he returned their salutes. "You just look bored as we walk. Moffitt will do all of the talking. We may not make it all the way to the top before our charges detonate. Play it by ear. Ready?"

Both privates nodded. Taking a deep breath, the sergeants led the way up the hill they had made.


	9. Chapter 9

**Outbreak**

By:AliasCWN

Chapter 9

Troy and Moffitt began to claw their way to the top of the rockslide. Moffitt paused once to yell at Tully and Hitch to keep up, making sure that the men watching them heard. The soldiers looked away quickly to avoid the 'bad tempered' officer. Hitch and Tully saw his hand gesture and hurried to close the gap between themselves and the 'officers'.

"Keep moving." Moffitt whispered as they stopped next to him.

They skirted a work detail trying to move one of the larger rocks.

"Hurry!" Moffitt urged. "If they manage to get that rock to roll down the hill they might start another small rock slide."

That was all of the urging they needed. Troy climbed over the top of the slide a minute later followed by the others. On solid ground, they all sighed with relief. Moffitt now pointed at rocks and flows of dirt as if pointing out more work that needed to be done. All four looked down into the valley as the earth began to shake. In the beam of the work lights they could see the work detail they had just passed scrambling to stay on their feet. They had managed to move the boulder but as Moffitt feared, it had started another slide. As the dirt slid from beneath their feet it took them down with it.

"Let's move!" Troy hissed. "Everyone's watching that slide; no one's going to miss us."

Fading into the darkness, they headed for their jeeps. Tully scouted ahead making sure that the Germans hadn't found the vehicles. He studied the tarp covered jeeps carefully, comparing the drapes to the ones they had made. It didn't look to him as if anyone had moved the tarps. To be sure, he circled the rocks where they were hidden, looking for an ambush. Again, it looked safe. By the time that the others arrived he had uncovered the jeeps and was folding the tarps.

"Did you guys find anything?" He asked Moffitt as the sergeant climbed into the jeep.

"Nothing specific," Moffitt answered, "but…" His answer was interrupted by the first of a series of explosions.

"Time to go!" Troy yelled. His jeep headed out and Tully followed, the conversation forgotten. The rapid fire of the ammo, shells, and grenades exploding gave them a lively send-off.

The conversation didn't resume until they had their camp set up. Sharing a meal, they discussed the results of the raid,

"We found nothing on the outbreaks." Moffitt informed them. "But we did find mention of a 'special' visitor scheduled to arrive the day after tomorrow. No mention of a name or the purpose of the visit."

"Those files you took didn't say anything else?" Troy questioned.

"No, I'm afraid not." Moffitt chewed his food thoughtfully. "You know Troy," he spoke after a moment, "there has to be a reason why they are not revealing a name. Even if the commander knows who is coming, a reminder notice should reveal a name."

"So you think it's a possible lead?"

"Could be." The Brit nodded. "There was one other bit of information in the file."

"Such as?" Troy hated to have to pull information out of the British sergeant. He wished that the man would just spit it out and forget the 'cloak and dagger' mystery routine.

"This visitor," Moffitt nodded to himself, "will be visiting Captain Dietrich's base also. There was a note to the commander to inform the good captain of the upcoming visit."

"And did he?" Troy demanded.

Moffitt shrugged. "It doesn't say. He could have but he didn't make a note of it in the files." Moffitt looked across their small file at the American sergeant. "Are you thinking that Dietrich lied to us?"

"Who knows?" The other man growled. "He's always been pretty truthful, especially when his honor is involved."

"Perhaps he doesn't know the identity of the visitor….or maybe he hasn't been informed of the visit yet."

"Perhaps." Using Moffitt's own word, Troy replayed their visit with Dietrich in his mind. The German had appeared surprised when they told him about the outbreak and genuinely concerned about the Arabs. No, he didn't think that the Captain had lied to them. He probably would have mentioned the visit if there was anything suspicious about it….unless he hadn't been aware of it. "Maybe you're right Moffitt, maybe they didn't tell him yet."

Moffitt began to shake his head and he smiled as he saw the gleam in Troy's eyes. "The Captain isn't going to be happy."

Troy grinned. "Maybe he won't be so upset if we use the door instead of putting another slit in his tent."

"Perhaps," Moffitt laughed, "but somehow I doubt that it's going to make any noticeable difference in our reception."

"We did leave all of his men alive the last time."

"True, but somehow I don't think that that will buy us much goodwill either." The Brit responded.

"I know!" Troy brightened with a new plan. "We'll take him a gift!"

Moffitt frowned, looking confused, "A gift? Just what do you have in mind Troy?" Both privates were now looking very interested in the answer.

"We'll help him solve the mystery of who blew up that base." The other sergeant grinned triumphantly. "He can get points with his commanders for giving them answers."

"Huh." Moffitt huffed. "By now I am sure he has guessed that for himself."

"But we'll remove all doubt, I'll confess."

"Do you think that Dietrich really needs a confession Sarge?" Hitch was looking confused as to how it would help.

"Probably not, but he's going to get one; sort of a trade of information, you might say. We already know about the visitor, all we need is a name."

"So we trade the name of the saboteurs for the name of the visitor?" Tully reasoned.

Troy sighed. "In theory, but Dietrich will only give it up if he feels the visitor is a threat to his sense of honor. I still don't think that the Captain would condone any testing of germ warfare on innocent Arabs."

"The results would be the same." Moffitt explained as the others looked at him with questions in their eyes. "If the visitor is not a threat then he's not the one we want anyway."

"This whole thing is giving me a headache." Hitch sighed so dramatically that the others had to laugh.

"Why don't you take first watch and try to figure it out?" Troy suggested.

"Might as well," the blond sighed, getting to his feet. "I probably won't be able to sleep until I make some kind of sense out of it anyhow."

The others watched as he picked up a rifle and headed for the top of the ridge above the camp.

"He'll sleep like a baby the minute his head hits a pillow." Tully drawled to no one in particular.

"Yeah," Troy nodded, "but someone had to take first watch."


	10. Chapter 10

**Outbreak**

By:AliasCWN

Chapter 10

"Really Sergeant." Dietrich frowned as he looked up from his meal to find Troy and Moffitt standing in front of him.

The Captain and his column had stopped for a lunch break and a rest after four dull, boring days of patrol. His lunch had been delivered by an orderly and he had been looking forward to a quiet meal in his own tent. When someone walked in without asking permission, he was prepared to discipline his orderly, only it wasn't his orderly who had disturbed his solitude.

"Hello again Captain." Troy flashed a bright smile, knowing that it annoyed the German officer.

Dietrich sighed deeply. "What is it this time Sergeant?"

"A little trade Captain."

The Captain raised his eyebrows in surprise. It wasn't the answer he had expected. "All right Sergeant, I'm interested. What are we trading?" From the determined look on the American sergeant's face, he decided that arguing would be a waste of time. The sergeant didn't look like he would take no for an answer.

"A name, or names, for a name."

"And just what name would that be?" Despite his displeasure at seeing them in his tent, Dietrich was intrigued.

"The name of the visitor who is planning on dropping by your base tomorrow, or soon after." The sergeant explained with a sharp gaze.

"What visitor?"

"That's what we want to know. Is he the guy we're hunting?" Troy's sharp gaze searched the German's face for any lie.

"I have no idea who you're talking about Sergeant." Dietrich replied coolly.

Troy paused, staring the Captain down, considering his answer. "Have you been back to your base since we talked last?"

"No."

"All right Captain, then maybe you haven't received the message yet."

"What message?" Dietrich demanded impatiently, forgetting to keep his voice low. "How is it that you know about my messages before I am even aware of them?"

"Quiet Captain." Moffitt warned, putting a finger to his lips. "If your orderly comes in we may be forced to hurt him."

The warning had the desired effect. Dietrich took a deep breath and calmed himself. "Answer the question Sergeant Troy." His lowered voice fairly rumbled with indignation.

"We were visiting a certain base and overheard part of a certain conversation." Troy answered, twisting the facts just a bit.

"What base? What conversation?"

Troy shrugged nonchalantly. "Fair is fair Captain. You answered our question; not quite the way we wanted, but as best you could. This is our half of the trade; we were visiting Colonel von Krieg's base last night. It seems that he had several unfortunate accidents over there."

"What kind of accidents?"

"Rockslides, explosions, fires, those kinds."

"You're telling me that you attacked the Colonel's base?"

"Yeah, we are." Troy admitted. "Maybe you can trade that information for some favors with your superiors."

"I don't need favors from my superiors Sergeant." Dietrich replied with ice in his tone. "I earn my respect; I don't need any help from you."

"Then it can be our little secret Captain. Use it or not." He continued. "I guess I should point out that we used the door this time instead of making our own." He grinned at the German's furious expression.

"If that's all, you can get out now." Dietrich growled through clenched teeth.

"We're leaving Captain." Troy acknowledged. "We have two 50's covering the camp so sounding the alarm would be a really bad idea."

"Get out!" The Captain snarled, barely containing his fury.

They left, making it back to the jeeps without the alarm being sounded.

"I do believe that you angered the good Captain." Moffitt laughed as he glanced back toward the German camp.

"I don't know why, we used the door." Troy grinned innocently.

"Maybe he doesn't like unannounced guests." Hitch suggested

"We couldn't ask the guard to announce us, there wasn't one." Troy defended their surprise visit.

"From now on I have a feeling that the Captain will put a guard on his tent even if he's not in it." Moffitt smiled.

"It wouldn't bother us." Troy smiled. "We wouldn't visit the Captain in his tent if he's not in it."

"Did we learn anything from this visit?" Moffitt asked, sobering.

"We learned that Dietrich earns his own respect. We learned that he doesn't need our help in that department. And we learned that they are keeping secrets from the Captain for some reason."

Tully, who had been listening quietly to the conversation, shifted his matchstick and cocked his head. "What kind of secrets Sarge?"

"That's what we're going to find out Tully."

"What are we going to blow up next Sarge?" Hitch asked eagerly. The others laughed.

"I think we're going to hold off on that until we know more about what we're dealing with Hitch." Troy smiled indulgently.

"How are we going to find out? I thought you said that Dietrich wasn't much help."

"He wasn't." Troy replied thoughtfully. "But maybe Colonel von Krieg was more help that we knew." The others waited, not understanding his logic.

"Think about it." Troy urged, looking earnestly at the three faces watching him. "Why would they keep the visit a secret from the base commander?"

"A surprise inspection?" Tully suggested.

"No." Troy shook his head. "They might not tell Dietrich about that, but that's no reason to keep it from Colonel von Krieg. They told the Colonel about the visit but didn't mention a name. If it was a surprise inspection they wouldn't have warned the Colonel about the visit either. If it's not an inspection, why not put the name on the report? Remember, it sounded as if the Colonel already knew who was coming; so why not put it in the report?"

"When you put it that way, it does sound rather suspicious." Moffitt admitted.

"You're thinking that they don't trust Dietrich with the information?" Hitchcock asked.

"Maybe someone knows that he has friends among the Arabs. Maybe they didn't think that he would agree to what's happening."

"A lot of maybes." Moffitt observed.

"Right now that's all we have." Troy defended his guesses.

"And I thought that our Army kept a lot from us." Hitch remarked dryly.

"Our Army wouldn't do something like this." Troy stated with certainty.

"So how do we prove it?" Hitch persisted.

"We need to pay another visit." Troy said quietly.

"Dietrich is going to get tired of seeing you Sarge." Hitch warned, only half joking.

"Not Dietrich, not this time."

"Then who?"

"Colonel von Krieg."

"How are we going to get back in?" Hitch asked in disbelief. "We can't create another rockslide and the one we made will be pretty well cleaned up by now."

"Unless we aren't going in." Moffitt guessed, noticing the tiny smile on Troy's lips.

"I don't think that we need to go onto the base." Troy confirmed. "The Colonel's visitor isn't actually there yet."

"How will we know which way he's coming?" Tully wondered aloud. "There are three different roads leading to that base, he could be using any one of them."

"We'll split into two teams and get help to cover the third road."

"Who Troy?" Moffitt asked although he suspected that he already knew the answer.

"We'll ask Dhakhil."

"If this guy is carrying the virus we could be putting Dhakhil and his men at risk." Moffitt argued. "Besides, I thought that you said we had to stay away from the Arabs."

"We'll signal him and talk to him from a distance." Troy explained. "If we explain the problem I'm sure he'll be willing to help. He can watch the road and just signal us if he spots anything. Once we see the car we can join up again and deal with it. Dhakhil and his men won't need to go near them."

"It might work." Moffitt admitted. "Dhakhil is fair minded and he did give us four days."

"Tomorrow is day four." Tully reminded them.

"There may be another problem Troy." Moffitt, for once, sounded unsure of himself.

"Like what?"

"I may be sick."

Three faces turned toward him in shock.

"Say that again." Troy demanded.

"I may be sick." Moffitt repeated. "Remember, I spent almost an entire day in those tents where the owners died."

"That doesn't mean that you're going to get sick." Troy argued.

"My stomach had been bothering me since yesterday." The Brit admitted. "I don't feel right Troy. There's nothing to worry about just yet. I can still do my job; but I thought that I should warn you."

"If you're sick then all of us are exposed." The other sergeant stated the obvious. "None of us can risk returning to the base until we get to the bottom of this. If there is a cure, we need to find it."

"I'm sorry." The British sergeant looked miserably around the small circle of faces. "If I hadn't gone off to visit Mahiteem none of this would be happening. None of you would have been exposed."

"No," Troy shook his head sadly, "we drew this assignment, it had nothing to do with you visiting Mahiteem. Hitch,…Tully,..are you feeling all right?" Both privates nodded. "Let me know right away if you start feeling any of the symptoms." He ordered harshly.

"What are the symptoms?" Tully wanted to know. "I thought that you said that we didn't know what the symptoms were."

"We don't," Troy growled in frustration. "Just let me know if you start feeling anything that's not normal." The two privates exchanged meaningful looks before they nodded silently.

"I really am sorry Troy."

"Forget it Doctor, there's nothing we can do but find the cure." Troy eyed his friend worriedly. "Any idea how long we have?"

"Until tomorrow, that's all the time that Dhakhil gave us."

"I don't mean with the Arabs Moffitt, I meant….well, you know what I meant."

"Ah, yes, I see." The other man answered. "No, I'm afraid that I have no idea. From all of the signs in the tents, it's a slow process."

Troy looked relieved. "All right, that gives us a little time. Hitch and I will go talk to Dhakhil. You and Tully wait here until we get back."

"Do you think Dhakhil will help us Sarge?" Tully asked doubtfully. "He said that we had four days, he never offered to help."

"We'll find out Tully."

"Troy, I think that I should go." Moffitt interrupted.

"No need Moffitt, Dhakhil speaks English well enough for us to understand each other. We'll talk to him; I want you to rest for tomorrow."

"I think that I should go. The Arabs think that we are spreading this, perhaps if they know that I am sick, they will believe that we knew nothing about it."

"If they know you're sick Doctor, they might decide to keep you from spreading it any further. Hitch and I are going and that's final."

Moffitt nodded in defeat and conceded the point.

Three and a half hours later found Tory and Hitch back near where they had started. Gathering scrub brush, they lit a signal fire atop the hill next to the oasis where they had burned the tents. It wasn't long before they saw Dhakhil and his men cautiously approaching. Troy walked toward them, holding up a hand to stop them within shouting distance.

"Dhakhil, we've come to ask for your help."

"Where is English?"

"We left him behind with our other jeep to guard a road."

The Arab studied the two soldiers carefully, perhaps looking for signs of the illness.

"What is it you ask of us?"

"We have a lead on this illness." Troy informed him. "But there are too few of us. We need to question a German officer who is arriving tomorrow."

"What can we do?" Dhakhil asked again.

"There are three roads leading to the base." Troy called. "We can watch two of them, but we need someone to watch the third one. If you could send someone to watch the third road and warn us if the Germans are using that one, we may be able to solve this."

"And if this is the one spreading the disease, how would we stop it?" The Arab sounded confused but not unwilling.

"All we ask is that you tell us if the Germans are using that road." Troy assured him. "Once you signal us, we will deal with the Germans. If they are the ones responsible, we will find out."

The Arabs conferred among themselves for several minutes. Troy sighed with relief as Dhakhil nodded an agreement. "We will do this thing. We will watch and signal you if we see anyone."

"Thank you." Troy proceeded to tell the Arabs where the road was and how to signal if they saw anyone. He assigned them the road nearest to the oasis as they were traveling on horseback.

Hitch watched the Arabs warily. The last time that they had had a problem with them, the Arabs had accused them of kidnapping their holy man. Dietrich had used men disguised as the Rat Patrol and let a ransom note reinforcing the deception. Hitch and Tully had been held hostage while the sergeants had been freed to clear their names. Rescuing the holy man from Dietrich had been child's play compared to their present problem.

"Some of Dhakhil's men didn't look too happy about helping. I hope Dhakhil can handle his men."

"He did all right the last time Sarge." His driver answered thoughtfully as he blew a bubble and popped it. "They wanted to kill us before sunset but Dhakhil wouldn't let them. He kept pointing at the sun and shoving them away from us. Tully said that he didn't think that Dhakhil really wanted to murder us."

Troy hadn't heard this before and he turned to look at his driver. "Why didn't you tell me this before?"

His driver shrugged. "Dhakhil sent them back to their tents and nothing happened. Then you and Doc returned with their holy man and they turned us loose."

"Yeah." Troy remembered how close they had come to losing both privates. "Let's move, I want to be in position before dawn."

They had rejoined the others only to find Tully standing guard while Moffitt slept.

"I told him to save his strength Sarge." Tully explained when Troy asked about the other sergeant. "He says he's not feeling any worse but I figured, why take the chance?"

Troy had allowed him to sleep until just before dawn. Running out of time, he woke him and sent him to watch the other road.

Dawn found all three groups hidden with a good view of the road. All three roads led to the base but they didn't converge until they were within a few miles of the front gate. A narrow valley in front of the base forced the roads to join and follow a single path the rest of the way. It would have made a good ambush spot if not for the fact that it was too close. If they attacked there they would have to worry about help arriving from the base before they could capture their target.

"You stay here and watch for a signal." Troy told his driver, leaving him with the jeep. Troy took his binoculars and climbed the hill above the road. Half burying himself in the sand, he settled in to wait. The sand would act as camouflage and protect him from the worst of the heat of the day.

"Sarge!" The yell from his driver snapped him out of his daze. The heat had been beating down on him for several hours and it was easy to lose your concentration under those conditions. "Sarge!"

"What?"

"Dhakhil is signaling!"

"Pass it on to Moffitt and Tully!" Troy yelled, extracting himself from the sand. Now that the action was near he was ready for action. Jumping into the jeep, he waited impatiently for Hitch to join him.

"They're on their way Sarge." Hitch announced as he slid into the driver's seat. The other jeep was only slightly behind them when they pulled in behind a hill that overlooked the road that Dhakhil had been watching.

The staff car was still several miles away, moving slowly over the road filled with pot holes and ruts. The sergeant studied it carefully as it approached. The staff car was alone, no patrol cars to act as guards, no halftracks to provide protection to the staff car's occupants. Troy wondered for just a moment if Dietrich may have warned them and this was all a trap. He swung around, using the glasses to search for tell-tale dust. Seeing nothing, he turned back to the car.

He heard Tully and Moffitt arrive but he kept his eyes glued to the approaching staff car. From experience he knew that Moffitt would join him at the top of the hill. Before long he heard the other sergeant scrambling for footing in the loose sand.

"What do you see?"

Troy turned, his friend sounded out of breath. "Are you all right?"

"Fine, what do you see?" Moffitt answered impatiently.

"You're fine? Last night you were feeling sick."

"I guess I slept it off." The other man answered casually, keeping his attention on the approaching car. "Where are the guards?"

Troy shook his head. "I don't know, I can't see any. Maybe he thinks he's safe because his visit is a secret."

"That could be the first real break we've had in this entire assignment." The Brit observed.

"Are you up to this Moffitt?"

"I'm fine Troy, that car is getting close."

With one final look at the other sergeant, Troy sighed. "All right, let's go."

The jeeps were moving when they jumped onboard. As they cleared their weapons their drivers picked up speed and raced along the back of the hill. At Troy's command they veered around the base of the hill and surprised the staff car.

To give him credit, the German driver reacted quickly. He spun the wheel to cut off one of the jeeps, forcing them both to pass on the same side. The little vehicles had to come around again, losing precious moments as the staff car raced for the base.

Approaching from the rear, the staff car was not able to cut them off and the two jeeps were able to separate and pin the German vehicle between them.

Hitch dropped back, allowing Troy the position where he could keep the car's passengers hugging the floor. Tully forged ahead and forced the nose of the car into the dunes next to the road. The German driver had no choice but to stop since his heavier vehicle sank into the soft sand on the edge of the road. He wisely chose to surrender rather than fight. His front seat passenger made a different choice; he picked up a machine gun and aimed it at Tully. Moffitt's 50 ended his life.

Hitch parked broadside behind the car so that it couldn't reverse. Troy grabbed a machine gun and rushed toward the rear doors. Moffitt called to the occupants to come out, hands raised, and to move away from the car.

The door opened slowly and a booted foot stepped out followed by a leg encased in a German uniform. The German officer carefully held his hands away from his sides. The next two people to crawl out were dressed in traditional Arab robes. Troy thought that they looked familiar but he couldn't remember where he had seen them before. Going back to his jeep, he pulled a small bundle out from under the seat and tossed it to Moffitt. "See if you can get them to talk."


	11. Chapter 11

**Outbreak**

By:AliasCWN

Chapter 11

Moffitt took the bundle that Troy handed him and opened it curiously. He rolled the small box and wires around in his hand before giving Troy a quick nod of understanding. Turning his back to the prisoners, he arranged the box and wires in the rear of his jeep and prepared his questions.

Tully and Hitch stood guard while Troy searched the staff car. He found some papers in a leather briefcase in the rear seat. Pulling them out, he handed them to Moffitt to read. The British sergeant read them once and then read them again. His expression hardened as he unraveled the truth behind the mysterious outbreak.

"These papers tell a tale of murder."

The two Arabs shifted uneasily under the sergeant's hard glare. Moffitt waved the papers in front of their faces, showing them the evidence. The German officer stood defiantly, watching the sergeant.

"What have you to say for yourself?" Moffitt demanded of the officer.

The officer didn't have the grace to look embarrassed. He puffed out his chest and refused to answer the questions.

"A confession would be in your best interest." Moffitt warned them. "You have been killing local tribesman. These papers not only tell how, but also who and where. To be tried for war crimes would be easier on you than to be turned over to the tribal council." The German still stood defiant but the Arabs looked terrified of the possibility of facing the council.

"Bah, tribal council, barbarians who fight for the highest bidder. Those papers prove nothing." The German scoffed. "These local tribes cannot speak, let alone read, German."

"You have been killing them and shifting the blame to us." Moffitt realized that playing to the officer's arrogance might work in their favor.

"Prove it!"

"It is a rather clever plan; we get the blame and the tribes turn to you for help. You trick them into fighting for you." He tried to look suitably impressed.

"You're smarter than you look Sergeant." The officer sneered.

"Smart enough not to anger the local tribesmen." The sergeant assured him. "Why kill them? Why these particular ones?"

"As you said sergeant, to blame you and turn them against you. I'm told that they take blood debts very seriously."

"Very." Moffitt agreed.

"We targeted those who worked with the Americans. We wanted it to look like they were being infected by that contact. Soon the Allies will be fighting the tribes too, and they will not be able to defeat both hem and us." The German eyed Troy and the privates with distain. "You British will fall with your American allies, leaving the desert to us."

"It won't work."

"It already has Sergeant." The German looked past Moffitt to stare at the distant hills. "Those tribesmen do not look happy. I think that you would do best to leave now before they arrive."

Moffitt didn't turn to look behind him, instead looking toward Troy who nodded that he had seen the approaching Arabs.

"My friends," the German pointed toward the two Arab men standing with him," will tell these men how you have confessed to making the tribesmen sick. They'll point the blame directly at you. If you value your life, you will take your friends and leave us Sergeant."

"We could kill you before they arrive." Moffitt suggested.

The German shook his head. "They would hunt you down and kill you for killing two of their tribesmen in cold blood. You have no choice Sergeant."

"Perhaps not," Moffitt conceded, "but I think I will take my chances. Tully, Hitch, keep your eye on them." The two privates nodded as Mofffitt turned and took the small box out of the rear of his jeep. Holding it carefully, he walked out to meet the advancing horsemen.

At the sight of Moffitt approaching, Dhakhil and his riders stopped. They watched warily as he placed the small box on the ground and walked away.

"You are sick English?" Dhakhil called at seeing the Englishman's unsteady pace.

"Yes." Moffitt replied, "But it is safe for you to listen to our recording box. I understand that you speak German."

"Why would we trust the word of a box?"

Moffitt eyed the German and Arab prisoners. "Great Dhakhil, would you trust the word of your countrymen?"

Dhakhil looked past Moffitt to the two Arabs standing under guard. His face tightened as he recognized the prisoners. "Achmen and Dahoul are not our most trustworthy brothers." He assured Moffitt with distaste. "But if it is as you say, and we could convince them to talk, we would believe them."

"Troy, Dhakhil wishes to speak with the Arab prisoners. Have Tully bring them here."

Dhakhil dismounted near the recording equipment. Flicking the switch, he listened to the German bragging about their plan and how it was carried out. His face darkened as he listened, his anger held in check only by force of will. When the recording ended he ordered his men to take the prisoners with them.

"We will meet on the top of the hill by the oasis at sundown." He informed Moffitt as his men prepared to ride away. "If it is as you say, all will be well between us."

Troy watched as his prisoners were carried away. He waited for Moffitt to return to the jeeps so that he could ask what had happened. The sounds of approaching vehicles interrupted his thoughts. "Moffitt, we have to go!"

He ordered Hitch to tie the German officer and they loaded him into the jeep. They were already in motion by the time that Moffitt and Tully reached their jeep. Tully spun his tires, chasing after the other jeep as the German rescue detail came into view. The German driver looked dumbfounded at being left behind. He stood beside his car as the halftracks rolled past.

Tully swung out in front and set a fast pace away from the German base. They wanted the relief column to follow them and not the Arabs on horseback. They played a game of 'cat and mouse' until they were well clear of the ambush site. They led the Germans far from the fleeing Arabs before shaking them. Tully pulled into the shade of some trees and jumped out of his jeep. Running around to the other side, he caught Moffitt as he fell from the vehicle.

"What's happening?" Troy yelled before his jeep had come to a stop.

Moffitt was holding on to the side of his jeep retching, losing everything he'd had for breakfast. His face was pale and covered in sweat. As he tried to straighten his wobbly knees gave out and he fell to the ground despite Tully's grip on his arm.

"You said that you were was okay!"

"I may have exaggerated a bit." Moffitt smiled weakly.

Troy looked at Tully angrily. "Did you know about this?"

Tully looked miserable.

"It's my fault Troy." Moffitt began. "I made him promise not to tell."

Troy glared at Tully while he answered Moffitt. "He should have reported it. If someone's sick, I need to know."

"I convinced him that I could handle it and that leaving me out of it would put you all in danger." The British sergeant looked ready to throw up again.

"Sit still Doc, I can explain my own actions." Tully growled with concern.

With an apologetic smile, Moffitt allowed them to help him to sit in the shade. He wiped the sweat from his clammy face as the world began to spin. Leaning forward, he vomited again, nearly hitting his driver's boots. Only Tully's quick reflexes prevented that embarrassing event. The world went dark and he fell forward into Tully's waiting arms.

The next time that he opened his eyes he was lying on a cot in the hospital. Tully sat next to him, keeping a cool cloth on his face.

"Tully, was Troy mad?"

Tully grinned despite his worry. "What do you think?"

"I'm going to be all right Tully." Moffitt wheezed between breaths.

"Sure you are Doc, just rest now. Sarge is talking to Captain Boggs."

"Did the Arabs prisoners talk to Dhakhil?"

"Sure did. They told him everything and then some."

"Then what happened?"

"Dhakhil's men didn't want to let us leave the oasis with you. They were afraid that we would spread whatever it was that you had. They knew we weren't involved in the outbreak but they were scared Doc."

"Tully, I'm not sick with what killed the Arabs. I must have been getting sick before I went to visit Mahiteem."

"We know that now Doc but we didn't then. Troy had a really hard time convincing Dhakhil to let you go. For a bit there I wasn't sure that he was going to let any of us leave."

"But I wasn't sick like the others." Moffitt argued, picking at the blankets that covered him.

"The nurse said that your fever broke, they took most of the covers off already. They don't want you to get a chill so you have to keep this one on." Tully smiled at the sergeant. "You know Doc; you could have saved us all a lot of worry if you had just told us what you found out about the outbreak. We almost didn't come back to the base because we didn't want to infect any more people."

"I'm sorry Tully, I meant to tell you." Moffitt paused a moment. "How did Troy manage to convince Dhakil to let me go? I take it he was able to convince Dhakil that I wouldn't make his people sick?"

Tully chuckled. "Doc, Sarge didn't know what to tell Dhakhil. You were sick, we couldn't deny that,..and we sure as heck didn't know what was wrong with you. We were all worried that Dhakhil would decide that it wasn't safe to let you leave the oasis."

"But he did." Moffitt stated the obvious.

"Yeah, when those prisoners talked, they admitted that they had poisoned all of those people. They mixed the poison into the food that they were selling at the market. They used a slow acting poison so that they had time to get away before the first ones got sick. The more food the people ate the sicker they got. The Germans paid them to do it. No one has gotten sick since we caught them. Tully's face expressed his distaste at the methods used by the Germans and their Arab friends.

"How did Troy manage to convince Dhakhil to let me leave?"

Tully looked away, not answering immediately. He looked uncomfortable at the question.

"Tully?"

"He made a trade Doc."

"A trade?"

"Yeah, Dhakhil and his people wanted the German who ordered the deaths. Troy wanted to refuse, to bring the kraut back here to be punished, but then there was you."

"Me?"

"Yeah, Dhakhil wasn't sure what to do about you. In return for your freedom troy had to give him the German officer and promise that you wouldn't go near any Arabs until you were okay again. Dhakhil agreed, but I think that he has someone watching us." Tully looked around uneasily.

"He murdered innocent people Tully." Moffitt couldn't understand Tully's apparent concern for the German officer.

"I know Doc."

"But?"

Tully shrugged. "But I can't help remembering when Dhakhil and his men held Hitch and I hostage while you and Troy looked for their holy man."

"Yes?"

"I imagined all sorts of things that they might do to us. I have to admit, I sure was happy to see you when you got back with that guy."

"I have an idea what will happen…. and it won't be pleasant…none of it; but he murdered innocent people in a slow, painful, and horrible way."

"Yeah, I know Doc, and I'm glad that Troy made the deal, ….but I sort of feel sorry for the guy. I know he deserves to pay…I just can't help myself."

"You are a compassionate human being Tully. And don't get me wrong, the average German would never have done what that officer did, but he was one of the ones that we need to defeat at all costs. Dhakhil and his people will exact justice, in their own way, and the murders will end."

"A job well done."

Tully and Moffitt turned to see Captain Boggs, Troy, and Hitch walking up the aisle. "The doctors tell me that you have a case of the flu aggravated by dehydration and too much heat." Captain Boggs sat on the chair that Tully had vacated. "And Troy tells me that the Arabs don't want you running around while you ae sick."

"So I've heard." Moffitt smiled weakly.

"So I have given all of you some time off. You've all been exposed to this virus and I don't want you starting another international incident by going on patrol with the flu." Getting to his feet, he smiled at the four men. "I'll let you know when I need you, but for now, you all have the next six days off. The only restriction being that you can't leave the base."

Troy looked at his driver and at Tully, noting their bright eyes. If he was to guess, he figured that they would be showing the next symptoms before morning. First the upset stomach, then the fever, but hopefully they would avoid the dehydration, exhaustion, and overheating.

"Somehow I don't think that that will be a problem Captain. I doubt that we'll feel much like going anywhere for a while." He licked his own dry lips and wondered how high his own temperature was at the moment.


End file.
